show-file-skills

Read and write live audio show files and studio sessions without the vendor software open.
Built on tour by Michael Lewis, a touring FOH and monitor engineer and co-founder of
Truck Packer.

Every format here was decoded by hand on real gigs: a console file had to be built on a
day off, a session had to be prepped on a bus, a recording rig had to match the console
patch. This repo holds the tools and the notes so you do not have to decode them again.

Use it in the browser

The digico/, dlive/, yamaha/ and venue/ folders power I Don't Own a PC, a free
web tool built on this code. Drop an input list or a show file and edit it on a console view in the
browser: DiGiCo sessions, dLive shows,
Yamaha CL, QL and DM7 shows and Avid S6L shows. The
DiGiCo Session Converter writes a session for older DiGiCo
software, which DiGiCo's SD & Q Convert can't do.

Formats

Each folder is a Claude Code skill: copy it into
~/.claude/skills/ and ask for what you need ("set up the IEM sends in my dLive show",
"build a Q225 session from this input list"). Every folder also works without Claude:
the scripts are plain Python and each folder README shows the commands.

Install as Claude Code skills

git clone https://github.com/michaelkeithlewis/show-file-skills.git
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -R show-file-skills/protools show-file-skills/samply ~/.claude/skills/   # or any other folder

Claude Code picks up every folder in ~/.claude/skills/ that has a SKILL.md; start a
new session after copying. Then follow that folder's README for its own setup (a
Python venv for protools/, an API token for samply/).

Studio chain: Pro Tools and Samply

protools/ and samply/ together take a song from a stem drop
to the client's ears on a Mac running Pro Tools:

1. Prep: file the drop in a song folder, create the session from your template,
   import, fix channel formats, fold into routing folders, route each track to its
   folder bus, clip-gain every stem, color, detect tempo, place section markers, load
   the reference into Metric AB.
2. Premix (on request): headroom trim, role-based balance against the reference,
   top-down folder faders, a check for anything sticking out.
3. Bounce: one name everywhere, <Song>_<Initials>_V<n>_PtMst.wav, into
   Bounced Files/, with versions that never overwrite a delivered mix.
4. Deliver: upload to the artist's Samply project, a new mix landing as a new
   version of the song, or zip a FINALS folder for mastering.

The playbook is protools/references/session-prep.md.

Safety

These formats are not documented by the manufacturers. Never load a generated file straight
into a console. Open it in the offline editor, check it, save it from the editor, and load
only that save. Do the first load at prep or rehearsal, never at the show, and keep a
known-good show on a USB stick.

Why this lives next to Truck Packer

Truck Packer plans the truck pack for touring and production
crews: your cases, your trucks, a 3D load plan the whole crew can open. This repo comes
from the same place: engineers on the road who would rather build the show file and the
truck pack before load-in than at it. If you advance tours, try
Truck Packer.

Contributing

Found a field we got wrong, or a firmware we have not seen? Open an issue with the console,
the firmware or software version, and what you expected. Do not attach show files that
belong to someone else.

License and trademarks

MIT, see LICENSE. No warranty. This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by
Allen & Heath, DiGiCo, Avid, Yamaha, Apple, Harrison, Ardour, Samply, ADPTR Audio or the makers of LiveProfessor. All
product names are trademarks of their owners. Part of the dLive field map credits
jaylenjinx/dlive-show-editor.